A  MINISTER'S  READING 


OWEN  H.  GATES 


5,  l-^  .08 


.<^ 


^i  i\\t  (S^oiagicul  ^ 


PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


'«A 


\ 


BV   4165    .G3   1908 

Gates,  Owen  Hamilton,  1862- 

1940. 
A  minister's  reading 


A  MINISTER'S  READING 


By  / 


The  Kev.  OWEN  H.  GATES,  Ph.D. 

Librarian  and  Instructor  in  Andover 
Theological  Seminary 


Issued  by  the 

Lieut. -Gov.  Samuel  Phillips  Charitable  Donation 


ANUOVER,  MASS. 
1908 


A  Minister's  Reading 


The  message  of  this  paper  is  to  ministers  in 
the  pastorate,  and  it  is  as  nearly  a  personal  mes- 
sage as  these  ministers  will  allow  it  to  be.  No 
apology  is  made  for  an  attempt  at  directness  and 
plainness.  The  second  person  is  a  very  satis- 
factory construction  to  use  when  men  are  face 
to  face  with  each  other  in  conversation;  it  an- 
swers very  well  over  miles  of  space  when  there 
is  a  wire  stretched  between  them,  or  when  a  letter 
carrier  acts  as  messenger;  let  it  creep  into  the 
printed  message  if  it  will. 

Recreative  reading  is  not  under  discussion  in 
the  following  pages.  It  is  true  that  our  reading 
of  this  sort  ought  to  be  improved,  but  if  you  at- 
tempt this  conscientiously,  the  reading  loses  its 
recreative  character  at  once.  Moreover  the  rec- 
reative element  is  present  more  or  less  in  much 
of  our  serious  reading.  We  like  one  book  and 
dislike  another,  and  usually  read  the  first  and 
postpone  the  second.  Our  present  concern,  how- 
ever, is  only  with  the  serious  part  of  our  reading, 
and  this  will  be  treated  as  the  chief  means  of  a 
minister's  training. 

If  you  are  satisfied  with  your  preliminary 
training,  and  with  the  training  you  are  gaining 
from  year  to  year  in  the  midst  of  your  parish 
work,  you  are  in  an  admirable  situation  to  aid 
your  brethren  in  their  struggles  after  what  you 
have  secured.     Such  a  self-satisfied  man,  how- 


ever,  does  not  exist,  and  while  I  do  not  flatter 
myself  that  all  will  find  help  from  these  words, 
yet  the  appeal  is  to  all,  in  one  way  or  another  to 
apply  yourselves  to  the  task  of  adding-  to  your 
mental  training  as  the  years  pass. 

Among  ministers  those  are  in  greatest  appar- 
ent need  of  consideration  who  have  not  had 
the  usual  preliminary  training  in  college  and  sem- 
inary; and  in  this  statement  there  is  intended  to 
be  an  emphasis  upon  the  word  "apparent".  It 
may  be  that  training  for  the  ministry  has  more 
puzzling  problems  than  training  in  and  by  the 
ministry,  but  audience  and  argument  must  be 
different  if  one  is  to  discuss  that  question,  and 
for  the  present  we  leave  it  out  of  account.  More- 
over, while  it  is  not  clear  that  men  who  lack  the 
usual  training  for  the  ministry  are  in  a  position 
to  respond  more  quickly  and  with  better  results 
to  such  suggestions  as  will  find  a  place  here,  their 
interests  are  most  to  the  front,  and  will  be  pri- 
marily in  mind  in  the  pages  that  follow. 

What  can  such  a  man  do  to  remedy  the  defects 
of  his  condition?  Much  in  his  environment 
operates  automatically  upon  him  to  improve  him 
in  this  respect,  and  on  the  other  hand  much  oper- 
ates to  make  his  condition  more  serious  as  the 
years  come  and  go.  Of  these  unconscious  influ- 
ences we  do  not  speak.  What  can  a  man  do  of 
purpose,  positively,  intentionally,  to  improve  him- 
self intellectually?  This  is  the  question  which 
you  ask  yourselves  constantly,  and  this  is  the 
question  upon  which  we  propose  to  think  to- 
gether for  a  little  while.  It  is  well  for  a  man  to 
feel  his  needs,  but  unless  the  way  opens  a  little 
now  and  then  toward  the  partial  satisfaction  of 

4 


his  needs,  the  outlook  is  gloomy  indeed.  This 
message  is  sent  out  in  the  hope  that  a  little  added 
light  may  result,  and  a  great  deal  of  added  cour- 
age. 

We  cannot  blind  ourselves  to  the  many  dis- 
couragements that  come  to  a  minister  in  his  in- 
tellectual life.  He  feels  the  handicap  under 
which  he  labors  in  the  performance  of  his  pro- 
fessional duties,  and  he  feels  it  all  the  more  when 
he  throws  himself  into  the  struggle  to  throw  off 
the  burden ;  who  can  fail  to  understand  this  ? 
There  is  very  often  a  tinge  of  sadness  felt  by 
such  a  man  in  the  midst  of  his  pastoral  duties; 
a  bit  of  envy  of  those  who  are  free  for  their 
studies.  It  is  certainly  not  an  uncommon  thing 
for  a  minister  to  feel  that  a  student  or  a  teacher 
has  a  great  advantage  in  the  matter  of  study. 

The  most  obvious  difficulty  under  which  a  man 
labors,  is  lack  of  time.  It  is  true,  a  minister  is 
a  very  busy  man,  and  the  demands  of  a  parish 
take  so  much  of  his  time  that  there  seems  to  be 
very  little  left  to  spend  upon  the  direct  training 
of  which  I  speak.  But  then  other  men  are  also 
busy,  and  the  complaint  of  lack  of  time  is  one 
that  is  common  to  well  nigh  every  ambitious 
man.  Every  scholar  in  the  schools  feels  just  as 
keenly  the  limitations  of  his  opportunity  in  this 
respect.  He  has  not  time  to  follow  out  one  tenth 
of  the  subjects  that  crowd  upon  his  attention.  It 
is  a  very  minute  subject  that  one  can  finish,  and, 
for  that  matter,  it  is  a  very  minute  man  who 
thinks  he  has  finished  even  that. 

Another  difficulty,  however,  is  deeper  seated 
than  this  lack  of  time.  It  is  a  question  of  the 
sphere  of  thought  in  which   one  moves.     The 


character  of  the  work  that  engrosses  him  is  such 
that  a  minister  often  feels  incapacitated  for  the 
work  that  a  school  does.  This  may  be  true.  A 
school  boy  can  do  a  school  boy's  work  better 
than  a  man  in  the  ministry  can  do  that  boy's 
work.  But  what  both  are  aiming  at  is  mental 
growth  and  increase  of  power,  and  the  real  ques- 
tion is  who  has  the  advantage  in  this  respect. 
There  is  truly  a  great  difference  between  the 
mental  work  of  a  boy  or  man  in  school  and  that 
of  a  man  in  the  ministry,  and  no  good  can  come 
from  ignoring  the  fact.  Indeed  our  whole  argu- 
ment is  based  on  the  assumption  of  such  a  dif- 
ference, actual  and  proper.  And  really  the  ad- 
vantage lies  with  the  grown  man  and  not  with 
the  student  at  school.  Let  us  consider  whether 
this  is  so. 

Schooling  is  good ;  it  is  essential  to  a  success- 
ful ministry.  No,  not  quite  essential,  witness 
now  and  then  a  man  who  succeeds  without  it. 
It  is  so  nearly  essential  that  a  man  is  very  foolish 
who  thinks  he  may  be  the  exception  and  still  win 
success.  Would  that  every  minister  had  the  best 
schooling  that  the  country  affords.  If  he  can- 
not have  it  for  himself,  he  ought  to  influence 
every  young  man  who  seeks  the  ministry  to  get 
the  best  regardless  of  cost  or  sacrifice.  But  after 
all,  schooling  is  only  a  means  to  an  end ;  a  good 
means,  but  not  the  only  one.  Efficiency  in  ser- 
vice is  the  goal  of  our  effort,  in  whatever  calling 
we  serve.  Education  in  the  true  sense,  culture 
of  the  whole  man,  power  of  mind  and  heart,  these 
are  not  the  same  as  schooling. 

The  period  of  school  days  is  a  limited  one.    A 
growing  man  soon  gets  beyond  it,  and  once  be- 
6 


yond  it  he  cannot  come  back  to  it  with  unmingled 
success  or  profit. 

A  mature  man  has  passed  beyond  college  or 
seminary  conditions.  He  may  not  have  his 
diploma,  but  he  is  beyond  that  stage  of  work. 
He  has  graduated  from  the  scholastic  point  of 
view  to  the  practical.  If  he  should  find  the  way 
open  to  go  to  a  college  or  a  seminary,  he  would 
find  that  his  thought  would  be  cast  in  a  mould 
very  different  from  that  of  the  ordinary  college 
student.  This  can  be  verified  by  anyone  who  has 
made  the  attempt,  and  by  teachers  who  have  in- 
structed such  men.  That  is  a  fine  ambition  and 
heroic  self-denial  which  prompts  a  man  already 
in  the  pastorate  to  give  up  a  year  or  more  of  his 
time  to  work  in  a  seminary  or  college ;  would  that 
there  were  more  who  were  as  ready  and  as  eager 
to  develop  their  mental  powers.  And  yet  such 
a  course  seems  to  be  a  mistake,  for  many  reasons, 
and  especially  for  this,  that  a  man  who  has  passed 
into  the  life  of  a  minister  is  no  longer  fitted  for 
just  that  kind  of  discipline  which  a  school  in- 
volves. Let  no  one  antagonize  the  statement  for 
fear  that  it  involves  loss  of  caste  among  scholars, 
or  the  confession  of  inferiority,  or  the  acknowl- 
edgement of  defeat  or  failure  in  life.  So  far 
from  claiming  this,  or  from  allowing  another  to 
claim  it,  or  from  permitting  the  one  concerned 
to  admit  it  for  himself,  the  writer  insists  that  the 
mental  attitude  into  which  one  is  forced  by  the 
demands  of  a  pastorate  is  the  attitude  of  a  ma- 
ture manhood,  and  that  he  should  spend  no  sighs 
or  vain  regrets  over  defects  in  early  work,  but 
glory  in  his  present  advantages  for  work. 

There  are  men  who  seem  never  to  get  beyond 
the  stage  of  going  to  school.     Their  mental  de- 


velopment  seems  to  have  been  arrested  at  that 
point  and  when  they  become  dissatisfied  or  am- 
bitious they  know  no  better  or  more  scholarly 
thing — God  pity  them — than  to  take  another  year 
at  school.  That  is  not  a  healthy  mental  attitude. 
It  is  a  mistake.  It  is  not  wise,  it  is  not  scholarly. 
The  scholarly  thing,  the  scientifically  correct 
thing  for  a  man  to  do  who  is  along  in  years  and 
is  in  the  midst  of  the  responsibilities  of  life,  is 
to  pursue  his  education  by  other  and  different 
methods.  The  methods  are  not  of  the  school,  but 
they  need  not  be  inferior,  they  certainly  promise 
better  results  for  the  grown  man  because  they  are 
more  in  harmony  with  his  matured  powers. 

The  grown  man  takes  the  initiative,  the  school 
boy  does  not.  This  is  manhood's  prerogative, 
the  boy  has  not  attained  to  it  yet.  The  young 
man  at  school  "takes"  studies  as  he  takes  the 
measles.  They  are  going  the  rounds,  and  he  is 
in  their  path.  With  the  grown  man,  his  mental 
work  takes  on  a  moral  phase,  because  he  has  to 
make  his  own  choice  of  work. 

It  rests  with  him  whether  he  studies  at  all. 
And  that  is  why  a  minister  commonly  neglects  his 
study  while  he  is  at  work.  There  is  no  one  and 
no  thing  to  keep  him  everlastingly  at  it.  If  there 
were  a  command  out  of  the  heavens,  "In  the  day 
that  ye  neglect  your  books  ye  shall  surely  die," 
men  might  come  to  time.  But  even  then,  there 
is  the  best  of  authority  for  the  suspicion  that 
the  serpent  would  be  there  with  his  denial  of  the 
fact.  And  we  do  not  die  that  same  day,  and  we 
believe  the  serpent  that  we  shall  not  die.  We  do 
not  seem  to  mind  the  fact  that  we  die  mentally 
a  little  later;  our  people  know  we  do,  our  pros- 
es 


pects  for  future  work  are  killed,  and  when  at  last 
we  become  alive  to  the  fact  that  we  are  dead, 
when  we  "feel  dead",  as  the  boy  said,  we  say  we 
must  stop  work  a  year  and  go  to  school  some 
more !  And  the  trouble  that  is  we  have  not  made 
our  own  school  in  the  midst  of  our  work,  have 
not  learned  our  lessons  as  we  go  along.  The 
remedy  is,  not  to  quit  work,  but  really  to  begin 
work  along  the  right  lines.  If  it  is  terribly  true 
that  a  man  must  work  mentally  in  order  to  grow 
mentally,  it  is  also  just  as  true  that  if  he  does 
work  mentally  he  will  grow  mentally.  The  law 
is  not  limited  to  work  done  in  a  college  or  semi- 
nary, but  extends  to  the  parsonage  and  parish  as 
well. 

Be  it  repeated,  the  minister  differs  from  the 
scholar  in  school  by  having  it  in  his  own  hands 
to  study  or  not  as  he  pleases.  Assuming  then 
that  the  minister  is  ambitious  to  continue  his  ed- 
ucation, what  shall  be  the  subject  of  his  study? 
Here  it  will  be  as  before;  the  man  must  decide 
for  himself,  as  he  decided  his  field  of  labor,  as 
he  decided  upon  his  wife,  as  a  grown  man  de- 
cides everything.  More  narrowly,  a  minister's 
study  grows  naturally  out  of  the  practical  needs 
of  his  work,  and  the  results  sought  are  naturally 
practical.  That  which  is  natural  cannot  well  be 
antagonized  or  ignored ;  that  will  result  in  loss  of 
efficiency.  Work  along  the  lines  of  least  resist- 
ance, for  that  means  best  results  and  greatest 
economy  of  effort. 

A  minister's  study  naturally  grows  out  of  his 
practical  work.  In  his  study  he  tries  to  reach 
certain  definite  results,  and  those  results  are  prac- 
tical results.    And  it  need  not  be  with  a  sigh  that 


he  realizes  that  his  work  and  interest  must  be 
mainly  practical.  Rather  let  him  pity  the  man,  if 
there  be  any  one,  who  does  not  have  this  practical 
interest,  and,  for  himself,  thank  God  and  take 
courage.  For  what  else  would  you  have  and  be? 
Would  you  deal  with  theories,  and  be  theoretical? 
And  what  is  a  theory?  It  is  a  generalization 
from  observed  facts.  And  will  you  stop  with  a 
theory,  in  which  this  kind  of  study  naturally  ter- 
minates? That  is  impossible  for  you.  The  study 
may  terminate  there,  but  the  student  does  not. 
The  man  goes  right  on  to  the  practical.  For  is 
a  man's  interest  not  in  the  practical?  Does  not 
every  theory  have  its  justification  in  the  practical 
if  at  all  ?  It  grows  out  of  the  practical,  it  in  turn 
has  its  end  in  the  practical.  It  is  tolerated  only 
because  it  explains  action  and  looks  again  toward 
action.  The  important  thing  is  action.  That  is 
a  truism  for  men  who  are  devoting  themselves 
to  the  ministry  of  Christ.  They  do  not  well  to 
sigh  for  the  theoretical  learning  that  character- 
izes the  school,  for  the  important  thing  is  the 
practical  learning  of  practical  life. 

This  great  world  is  busy,  busy;  always  at 
work,  and  never  still.  The  tides  rise  and  fall  and 
never  cease.  Animal  life  begins  and  varies  but 
never  stops.  The  souls  of  men  are  incessantly 
active ;  we  love  and  hate  and  hope  and  fear ;  we 
sin  and  repent,  we  struggle  with  the  tempter,  we 
vanquish  our  foe.  We  are  never  at  rest.  And  no 
two  souls  are  in  the  same  mould ;  no  two  acts  are 
the  outcome  of  the  same  character.  We  change, 
we  change,  for  better  or  worse,  but  change  al- 
ways. 


And  he  who  learns  theoretically  takes  a  hand- 
ful of  these  facts,  or  a  handful  of  these  souls, 
goes  away  by  himself  apart,  where  it  is  quiet,  and 
where  it  is  still  —  and  that  must  be  away  from 
life  —  among-  his  specimens  and  bottles  and 
labels,  and  thinks  and  speculates  and  theorizes. 
And  still  over  yonder,  just  out  of  his  hearing,  the 
throb  of  this  old  world  goes  on  never  ceasing. 
While  he  theorizes  about  a  chemical  formula, 
something  happens  out  in  the  world  that  upsets 
his  theory,  fortunate  if  he  happens  to  discover 
it!  While  he  dissects  and  analyzes  the  soul  and 
psychic  phenomena,  men  are  suffering  and  dying. 
He  formulates  a  rule  according  to  which  men  will 
act,  and  they  act  without  rule  and  against  rule, 
and  he  knows  it  not.  They  discuss  God  and  ex- 
haust themselves  in  describing  him;  they  invent 
a  terminology  to  state  —  not  God,  but  their 
theories  about  him,  and  out  in  the  world  he  is 
working,  doing  the  impossible,  saving  men  that 
are  damned  by  the  theologies.  Advanced 
thinkers  take  a  step  forward  now  and  then, 
modifying  their  theories  here  and  there,  oh !  so 
cautiously ;  they  propound  the  novelty  to  the 
world,  and  lo !  you  and  I  know  that  God's  dear 
children  have  known  this  all  along.  You  and  I 
know  that  the  babes  in  our  parishes  have  the 
revelation,  and  are  living  trustfully,  happily, 
safely,  in  his  presence,  and  love  him  careless  of 
what  the  theologians  think. 

And  yet  theories  are  not  unnecessary.  We 
must  theorize.  We  must  provide  clothes  for  our 
children ;  every  few  months  a  new  suit,  or  piece 
down  the  old !  For  the  boys  and  girls  are  grow- 
ing.    There  will  always  be  work  for  seamstress 


and  tailor.  Only  beware  lest  they  assume  in  their 
pride  that  they  make  boys  grow. 

You  who  know  the  toils  and  struggles  of  men, 
you  who  have  wept  with  those  who  weep,  who 
have  been  on  the  mount  where  some  homely  ob- 
scure soul  was  transfigured  with  divine  light, 
what  would  you?  Would  you  leave  all  this  and 
go  to  school  again,  forsooth  to  freshen  up  a  bit? 
Would  you  leave  the  infinite  variety  of  exper- 
ience and  conversation  and  go  at  your  text  books 
again,  to  get  out  of  the  rut?  Would  you  leave 
the  novel  questions  from  the  children  of  your 
parish,  questions  more  puzzling  than  any  the 
scribes  and  Pharisees  could  propound  to  Jesus, 
and  think  to  sharpen  your  wits  upon  the  age 
old  questions  of  the  class  room?  The  freshness 
is  all  with  you,  the  variety  is  all  with  you,  the 
mental  drill  is  all  with  you.  Perhaps  you  might 
not  be  quick  with  the  lessons  of  the  school ;  cer- 
tainly the  professor  would  fail  often  at  the  tasks 
in  your  laboratory.  Envy  not  the  scholar  at  his 
books ;  rejoice  in  your  opportunities  and  use 
them. 

A  theory  results  from  a  generalization  from. 
facts,  and  that  means  that  each  fact  loses  itself 
in  the  mass.  It  is  reduced  to  that  colorless  awful 
thing,  an  average.  There  is  no  room  in  a  theory 
for  a  deviation  from  the  normal.  What  does 
the  expression  mean,  "It  is  all  right  in  theory, 
in  practice  it  will  not  work,"  used  of  a  new 
motor,  an  airship,  a  sociological  principle,  an 
ecclesiastical  rule?  It  means  that  there  will  be 
such  variations  in  the  conditions  under  which 
the  principle  will  have  to  work,  that  uniformity 
in  operation  is  impossible.  A  certain  crime  bears 
such    relation    to    another    that    its    punishment 


ought  to  be,  say,  imprisonment  for  three  months. 
In  the  autumn  two  men  commit  this  crime.  One 
does  it  on  purpose  to  be  sent  up  for  the  winter, 
and  so  secure  board  and  lodging  from  the  state. 
The  other  does  it  in  the  hope  to  keep  his  family 
from  suffering  during  the  winter.  If  he  were 
imprisoned,  those  dependent  upon  him  would  be 
destitute,  and  become  public  charges.  The  nor- 
mal punishment  of  three  months'  imprisonment 
is  out  of  the  question  in  both  cases.  In  theory 
correct,  in  practice  it  may  not  suit  one  tenth  of 
the  cases  that  arise.  The  minister  is  in  a  position 
to  know  these  individual  cases.  He  sees  not  the 
crime  alone,  but  the  criminal,  and  he  knows  that 
that  theory  must  not  be  uniformly  applied. 

Educational  leaders  make  a  study  of  child  life 
and  training,  and  evolve  a  magnificent  curricu- 
lum for  common  schools.  It  is  tried  in  country 
towns  and  is  not  successful.  Why?  For  a 
hundred  reasons.  For  the  prices  paid,  no 
teachers  can  be  hired  competent  to  carry  it  into 
effect.  No  school  committees  know  enough  to 
adopt  it.  No  two  scholars  in  the  school  are  near 
enough  of  the  same  grade  of  capability  or  train- 
ing to  constitute  a  group  to  be  practiced  upon. 
School  equipment  is  lacking.  Children  are  kept 
away  by  storms  or  sugaring  or  fair  or  hoeing. 
Practically  it  will  not  work.  The  illustration  is 
taken  from  the  day  school ;  almost  the  same 
words  could  be  used  of  the  Sunday  school,  but 
if  that  had  been  taken  as  the  illustration,  the 
answer  would  have  been  promptly  made  that  the 
Sunday  school  is  good  for  nothing  anyway. 

Take  another  instance  showing  the  difference 
between  the  theoretical  and  the  practical,  even 

13 


when  the  former  tries  to  be  practical.  A  stu- 
dent, say  a  theologue,  thinks  it  wise,  as  it  is,  to 
take  a  course  in  manual  training  in  a  school  be- 
fore going  out  to  his  work.  Here  is  something 
practical  at  last,  even  if  theology  is  not.  He 
shows  you  a  specimen  of  the  work  he  has  done, 
perhaps  a  well  fitted  dove-tailed  joint.  Under 
what  conditions  did  he  perform  that  nice  piece 
of  work?  He  had  the  best  of  lumber,  straight 
grained,  old  growth,  well  seasoned.  He  had  a 
solid  bench  and  a  good  bench  screw.  His  saws 
were  kept  well  filed  and  set  by  a  trained  saw- 
smith.  He  had  the  choice  of  half  a  dozen  well 
sharpened  planes.  He  had  try  squares  and  rules 
and  gauges;  the  best  of  glue  and  varnish; 
brushes  and  sand  paper  and  pumace  stone  and 
everything  else  he  needed  or  thought  he  needed. 
And  he  was  getting  practical  training,  a  very 
desirable  thing!  Visit  that  man  five  years  later 
in  a  distant  home  mission  field.  You  see  no  such 
joints  in  his  home  made  bookcase  or  baby's  crib, 
because  he  has  none  of  those  many  appliances 
which  after  all  kept  the  manual  training  in  the 
school  from  being  thoroughly  practical.  The 
man  showed  more  real  skill  in  making  over  his 
Larkin  soap  box  into  a  case  for  his  few  books, 
than  he  had  shown  years  before  in  finishing  that 
dove-tailed  joint.  It  is  no  trick  at  all  to  theorize, 
that  is  cheap.  It  is  a  different  matter  to  carry  on 
the  practical  work  of  life  with  some  slight  ap- 
proach to  the  smoothness  and  strength  of  which 
the  books  speak. 

Theoretical  training,  speculation,  is  not  an  end 
in  itself.  The  theoretical  exists  only  for  the  sake 
of  the  practical.     Mathematics  is  a  pure  science. 


It  deals  with  the  most  abstract  of  concepts.  Its 
processes  are  involved  beyond  all  power  of  mind 
to  grasp  them.  Why  do  men  study  mathe- 
matics? You  cross  a  fine  bridge  over  a  wide 
stream.  They  have  put  their  mathematics  into 
that.  You  cross  the  ocean.  The  mammoth 
steamer  comes  in  sight  of  land  within  half  a 
mile  of  its  captain's  reckoning;  because  in  the 
nautical  almanac  there  are  pages  of  abstruse 
astronomical  and  mathematical  computations.  It 
requires  men  of  great  training  to  compile  those 
books,  but  they  do  it  for  the  sake  of  the  steamer 
and  sailing  craft.  And  after  all  the  honor  goes, 
not  to  the  compiler,  but  to  the  master  of  the  boat 
who  uses  the  book.  You  and  I,  even  with  the 
book,  would  have  wrecked  the  boat  before  it  was 
away  from  the  dock.  A  few  things  the  captain 
can  discover  in  the  almanac,  but  these  are  only 
the  general  facts  valid  for  all  boats  and  crews. 
In  addition  to  these,  which  many  men  can  know, 
he  must  know  a  mass  of  facts  which  no  other 
man  can  know.  He  observes  the  particulars  of 
storm  and  wind  and  tide,  of  current  and  spread 
of  sail  and  behavior  of  engine  and  temper  of 
crew.  It  is  his  honorable  and  unique  task  to 
combine  all  these  things  that  never  can  be  re- 
duced to  rule,  into  a  practice.  And  this  is  the 
minister's  task.  He  has  at  his  service  the 
theories  of  so  called  scholars,  and  their  learned 
treatises,  he  takes  them  for  what  they  are  worth 
to  him,  uses  them  as  far  as  they  go,  and  then 
he  really  begins  for  the  first  time  the  still  more 
honorable  and  arduous  task  of  working  out  his 
particular  problems.  The  credit  belongs,  if  we 
must   make   comparison,   with   him   who   makes 

15 


the  connection  between  the  general  statement,  or 
the  theory,  and  the  practical  situation  that  con- 
fronts him. 

What  subject,  then,  should  a  minister  study? 
•  The  general  answer  is,  he  should  study  one  that 
is  connected  with  his  particular  work,  and  will 
help  him  do  it  better.  There  of  course  lies  his 
interest,  and  an  intelligent  interest  is  in  this  mat- 
ter well  nigh  authoritative.  For  an  earnest  man 
there  is  a  wealth  of  interesting  subjects  close  at 
hand,  subjects  in  themselves  interesting  and  im- 
portant, or  subjects  of  peculiar  interest  to  him 
for  some  special  reason,  perhaps  local  and  tem- 
porary. He  must  not  think  it  a  special  virtue  to 
pass  by  these  interesting  themes  and  choose  some 
uninteresting  subject,  because  it  is  in  the  air  just 
now,  or  because  he  ought  to  study  it,  or  because 
twenty  years  ago  in  the  seminary  he  resolved 
that  some  day  he  would  study  it. 

Perhaps  it  does  not  matter  so  much  what  a 
man  studies,  just  as  it  is  not  a  life  and  death 
matter  what  he  preaches  about.  If  he  is  not  the 
right  kind  himself,  his  subject  cannot  save  him, 
and  if  he  is  of  the  right  stuflF,  no  matter  what 
subject  he  selects,  he  will  put  the  whole  gospel 
into  his  sermon.  So  in  the  selection  of  a  definite 
subject  for  study,  the  chief  thing  is  actually  to 
work  upon  some  subject.  The  tonic  is  in  the 
working,  not  in  the  subject. 

As  in  the  decision  of  the  question  whether  he 
will  study  at  all  or  not,  and  in  the  choice  of  his 
subject,  a  minister  has  the  burden  and  the  pre- 
rogative of  a  grown  man,  so  in  the  method  in 
which  he  will  do  his  work  he  must  choose  for 
himself.  But  here  too  it  is  obvious  that  he  is  not 
i6 


likely  to  get  the  best  results  by  imitating  closely 
the  methods  of  the  schools. 

Much  of  the  work  in  a  school  is  imposed  in 
order  to  secure  for  the  pupil  the  mental  discipline 
that  will  result.  It  can  be  assumed  that  the  min- 
ister is  not  in  exactly  the  same  need  of  mental 
discipline  as  the  school  boy.  The  earnest  boy 
comes  to  his  task  with  an  excess  of  vigor.  De- 
liberately he  for  himself,  or  the  master  for  him, 
chooses  the  hard  path  for  this  very  reason.  An 
example  is  assigned  to  be  worked  out,  the  answer 
to  which  is  perfectly  well  known  to  teacher,  and 
very  likely  to  student.  He  reads  a  page  of  Latin 
which  exists  in  a  translation  vastly  better  than 
the  boy  can  produce.  But  the  minister  would  be 
foolish  to  disregard  the  work  of  others  already 
complete.  If  it  is  Latin  or  Greek  or  Hebrew, 
he  does  well  to  get  all  out  of  the  English  that  he 
can,  and  go  to  his  Latin  or  Greek  or  Hebrew  for 
what  cannot  be  learned  from  the  translation.  If 
he  can  find  an  answer  ready  to  his  example,  he 
does  well  to  take  it  and  press  on  to  the  problem, 
or  the  part  of  the  problem,  that  still  awaits  solu- 
tion. 

The  school  boy  learns  his  lesson  out  of  a  book. 
That  is  the  only  way  he  can  learn  it.  Really  he 
does  not  learn  it  at  all ;  he  simply  commits  to 
memory  what  some  one  else  says  of  it.  To  a 
mature  man  these  sayings  of  others  do  not  have 
the  same  importance.  They  come  to  him  as 
propositions  and  not  as  proofs.  If  he  is  less 
quick  to  remember,  he  takes  some  steps  that  the 
boy  does  not  take,  and  he  is  the  greater  gainer. 

Both  study  history.  The  boy  learns  names, 
dates  and  figures.     The  man  cannot  so  easily  do 

17 


this ;  but  he  gets  more  out  of  his  history  than  the 
boy  does,  because  the  actors  are  real  to  him. 
He  might  have  been  in  their  place,  acted  upon 
and  acting  by  motives  and  influences  with  which 
he  is  familiar,  the  boy  not.  The  boy's  note-book 
will  contain  many  things  that  the  man  will  not 
be  quick  enough  to  catch  and  record;  the  man 
will  not  worry  overmuch  over  failing  to  remem- 
ber a  certain  class  of  facts.  Other  things,  im- 
portant to  both,  the  boy  will  carefully  note,  the 
grown  man  fixes  them  not  on  paper  but  at  once 
in — I  will  not  say  memory,  but  in  his  experi- 
ence. 

And  this  is  really  the  gist  of  the  whole  matter ; 
the  grown  man  has  a  fund  of  experience  which 
the  boy  has  yet  to  acquire.  The  latter  has  to 
hold  a  fact  in  memory  until  at  some  future  time 
he  reaches  the  point  in  experience  when  he  can 
use  the  fact.  With  the  grown  man,  memory  is 
reduced  to  the  minimum;  the  new  fact  takes  its 
place  as  a  part  of  his  experience.  It  is  the  direct 
influence  of  the  current  of  other  life  upon  his 
own,  with  no  storage  battery  to  mediate  between 
that  outside  life  and  his. 

The  boy  is  getting  knowledge  ready  to  be  con- 
verted into  wisdom  when  the  issue  arises  which 
will  demand  it.  The  grown  man's  prerogative 
is  to  apply  his  knowledge  at  once  to  practical 
ends  and  the  effect  on  him  is  to  make  wise.  To 
feel  the  need  of  storing  up  knowledge  against  a 
possible  demand  in  some  undefined  future  is  not 
in  harmony  with  other  characteristics  of  ma- 
turity. The  methods  of  the  schools  are  of  course 
correct  for  persons  of  school  age,  but  as  the  boy 


grows  up  they  give  place,  and  must  give  place, 
to  those  more  natural  to  the  mature  mind. 

Now  and  then  some  earnest  ministerial  brother 
suggests  work  for  himself  upon  some  subject 
which,  from  the  very  form  in  which  the  propo- 
sition is  worded,  is  obviously  a  hold-over^ from 
seminary  days.  The  desire  is  very  easily  com- 
prehended, and  is  entirely  praiseworthy.  There 
was  a  gap  in  the  course  of  study,  or  the  student 
was  ill,  or  the  professor  did  not  complete  his  lec- 
tures, or  the  student  simply  did  not  study  as  he 
ought,  and  now  he  realizes  he  has  lost  some- 
thing, and  laudably  proposes  to  make  it  up,  even 
if  he  has  his  diploma  all  safe.  In  such  a  case, 
one  wonders  if  in  making  the  plan,  the  brother 
has  not  ignored  the  contribution  of  the  years  to 
his  education ;  the  chances  are  that  he  knows  his 
lack  of  precisely  that  academic  course  by  a 
sheer  act  of  memory,  or  else  by  a  hiatus  of  mem- 
ory; or  perhaps  he  made  a  note  of  the  lack  five 
or  ten  years  ago  when  he  came  out  of  school,  lest 
he  forget.  He  has,  we  will  say,  five  years  of  ex- 
perience in  the  ministry.  Review  those  five  years 
slowly  and  honestly,  brother,  and  tell  me  whether 
they  have  been  profitless  years.  Do  you  know 
less  now  or  more?  You  say  you  have  lost  all 
your  Hebrew  and  forgotten  most  of  your  church 
history?  Perhaps  your  Hebrew  was  a  blue  baby 
and  could  not  live.  But  think  of  "the  expulsive 
power  of  a  new  affection."  Has  not  this  for- 
getting of  Hebrew  and  dates  and  names  been 
caused  by  the  crowding  in  of  something  else? 
If  you  are  in  doubt,  take  out  that  old  sermon 
written  with  Hebrew  Bible  at  your  elbow,  and 
garnished  with  the  choicest  illustrations  drawn 

19 


from  history,  if  not  from  "Historical  Lights" ! 
Can  you  not  write  better  now?  Are  you  not 
stronger  mentally? 

It  is  ungrateful  indeed  to  ignore  so  heedlessly 
the  educating  value  of  practical  work.  It  is  not 
an  enemy  to  the  mental  development  of  a  min- 
ister. It  is  and  ought  to  be  its  inspiration. 
Honor  the  every  day  task  by  bringing  to  it  your 
best  work,  and  you  will  be  honored  by  it  as  you 
go  away  from  it  when  you  have  completed  it, 
with  new  strength  of  head  as  well  as  of  heart. 

Let  me  not  be  misunderstood.  There  are  two 
classes  of  men  who  come  back  now  and  then  to 
the  seminary  for  a  day  or  two.  Both  have  been 
thoughtful  and  studious  since  they  left,  but  they 
are  different.  One  presents  a  new  view  which  he 
has  elaborated  all  by  himself,  we  will  say,  of 
the  location  of  the  garden  of  Eden.  Of  course 
this  is  not  a  true  instance,  for  there  cannot  be 
a  new  view  until  we  get  a  new  earth ;  but  the  man 
is  real.  I  have  seen  him.  Or  he  suggests  a 
novel  scheme  of  chronology  of  the  gospels.  And 
I  have  seen  the  professor  trip  up  that  scholar  as 
neatly  and  I  fear  as  gleefully,  though  he  may 
not  know  it,  as  the  small  boy  with  a  wire  trips 
up  a  man  on  April  Fool's  day.  The  other  man 
comes  back  too;  there  are  more  of  him  than  of 
the  other,  but  it  takes  longer  to  find  him  out;  he 
gracefully  acknowledges  the  courtesy  when  a 
Hebrew  Bible  is  handed  to  him  opened  to  the 
correct  chapter  and  verse,  evidently  enjoys  most 
the  subjects  which  deal  with  human  nature 
whether  unredeemed  or  redeemed,  and  sometimes 
brings  out  of  his  store  house  veritable  riches  of 
suggestion,  evidently  the  result  of  severe  mental 


application.  Or  if  he  is  craving  advice  or  help, 
the  very  statement  of  his  perplexities  proves  the 
clearness  and  the  profoundness  of  his  insight. 
The  burdens  of  pastoral  care  can  transform  one 
as  vv'ith  a  magic  wand  so  that  the  one  time  stu- 
dent of  seemingly  uncertain  future  becomes  a 
man  before  whom  we  stand  in  awe  as  in  the 
presence  of  a  great  mystery. 

As  a  minister  you  are  handicapped  indeed  in 
many  ways  in  your  attempt  to  study  as  a  student 
studies  in  school.  Then  study  as  a  student  can 
study  in  the  field.  Do  your  daily  work  in  a 
scholarly  way.  Let  every  call  be  a  laboratory  ex- 
ercise ;  of  course  not  doing  it  clumsily,  but  doing 
it  nevertheless.  Study  the  development  of  the 
child's  mind  and  his  moral  nature,  and  learn  to 
know  it  better  than  the  books  will  teach  it.  Ad- 
mit your  mistakes,  account  for  them  to  yourself, 
and  do  not  make  the  same  mistake  twice  from 
lack  of  careful  study  of  conditions.  If  you  go 
to  candidate  in  a*  church  where  every  man, 
woman,  and  child  is  hard  at  work  on  the  farm  or 
in  the  kitchen  the  whole  week  through  except 
while  he  is  sitting,  and  nodding,  under  your 
preaching,  do  not  a  second  time  at  most,  urge 
them  to  take  gynmastic  exercise  to  keep  their 
bodies  in  good  condition !  "Use  tact,"  we  say ; 
and  what  is  that  but  studying  conditions  and 
adapting  yourself  to  them?  There  is  first  class 
mental  discipline  in  this,  and  an  added  result  of 
increased  strength  and  assurance  will  come  from 
it.  Do  this  and  you  will  sometime  become  recon- 
ciled to  the  gradual  disappearance  of  Hebrew 
from  your  many  accomplishments. 


The  question  is  often  asked  of  a  minister,  "Do 
you  offer  prayer  when  making  pastoral  calls?" 
What  is  your  answer?  Is  your  practice  in  this 
matter  the  result  of  accident,  or  of  a  strict  theory, 
or  of  a  scholarly  study  of  the  question  in  the 
course  of  your  pastorate?  Such  a  study  will 
lead  far  along  toward  a  thorough  examination 
of  the  value  and  effect  of  prayer,  the  attitude  of 
the  mind  towards  it,  its  effect  upon  unsympa- 
thetic hearers.  It  may  be  that  some  good  sister, 
punctilious  to  a  degree,  needs  to  be  shown  by  her 
minister's  omitting  the  customary  prayer,  that 
the  formal  prayer  is  but  one  of  the  many  ways  of 
approaching  God ;  that  sometimes  the  prayerful 
spirit  is  to  be  taken  for  granted.  Just  what  is 
her  need,  and  how  can  it  be  best  met? 

The  word  "practical"  is  too  often  used  as  if  it 
were  a  synonym  of  unscholarly.  And  it  is  fre- 
quently the  so  called  scholars  who  err  in  this 
respect.  But  the  practical  is  not  necessarily  un- 
scholarly. It  is  not  the  result  of  accident,  as  if 
one  stumbled  blindly  upon  some  great  result. 
It  is  the  finished  product  of  theory.  It  is  wis- 
dom. It  is  abiding  in  its  results  because  it  is 
flexible  in  its  methods.  It  aims  with  true  single 
mindedness  at  the  true  end  of  all  action.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  word  is  misused  also  by  unschol- 
arly men.  Finding  exact  study  an  impossibility, 
they  are  prone  to  exploit  their  own  achievements 
by  saying  that  they  are  self  made  men,  practical 
and  direct.  And  the  implications  in  this  boast 
are  as  faulty  as  in  the  other  case. 

Will  it  make  the  matter  clearer  to  take  a  con- 
crete illustration?  A  pastor  is  often  called  upon 
to  take  definite  position  on  Seventh  Day  Baptist 


doctrines.  He  may  treat  the  question  in  a 
scholarly  way,  from  the  view  point  of  theory,  by 
which  means  he  will  satisfy  mainly  those  who 
agreed  with  him  from  the  outset.  On  the  other 
hand  he  may  treat  it  from  the  point  of  view  of 
the  practical  gain  to  be  secured  by  a  gen- 
eral acceptance  or  rejection  of  the  doctrines 
mentioned.  Such  a  course  of  thought  broadens 
the  outlook.  It  puts  things  where  they  belong 
in  life.  It  goes  to  the  bottom  of  purpose  in  con- 
duct. It  is  not  unscholarly,  but  allows  and  re- 
quires as  keen  insight  and  as  ready  wit  as  a  real 
scholar  can  bring  to  the  task.  It  furnishes,  more- 
over, the  only  possible  common  ground  upon 
which  men  can  stand  to  meet  the  common  foes 
of  all. 

Many  ministers  express  the  wish  to  make  a 
thorough  study  of  sociology.  What  is  the  best 
way  to  begin?  First  is  he  really  interested  in 
the  study?  Possibly  he  proposes  it  because  it  is 
so  much  talked  about  in  these  days,  while  his 
assumed  interest  is  not  real.  If  it  is  real,  has  it 
not  arisen  because  of  his  own  immediate  social 
problems?  Sociology  is  a  well  ordered  knowl- 
edge of  society.  What  do  we  ministers  know  or 
want  to  know  of  society  except  as  it  is  made  up 
of  little  groups  in  one  of  which  our  lot  is  cast? 
Not  one  in  a  thousand  has  time  or  talent  or 
patience  for  the  theoretical  questions  of  the  study 
or  would  be  helped  by  such  study  as  would  result 
in  the  formulation  of  a  theory  or  in  the  cata- 
loguing of  a  mass  of  facts.  Our  real  interest  be- 
gins with  the  men  and  women,  and  ends  with  the 
men  and  women ;  and  if  there  is  need  of  an  ex- 
amination of  theories,  we  tolerate  the  examina- 

23 


tion  because  of  their  practical  bearings.  If  I 
were  a  country  pastor,  I  would  not  exchange 
places  with  any  professor  of  sociology  or  any 
habitue  of  a  library  in  the  attempt  to  secure  an 
opportunity  for  social  study.  With  you  it  is  con- 
crete, personal,  vital ;  with  him  it  is  theoretical, 
impersonal,  dead.  To  him  Mr.  A  and  B  are  un- 
known persons.  Suppose  them  vicious,  he  is 
isolated  from  their  vice.  Are  they  virtuous,  he  is 
unaffected  by  any  contagion  of  virtue.  With  you 
it  is  not  Mr.  A,  but  Pete  Jones  the  drunkard; 
Sally  Smith  the  prostitute.  You  know  them,  and 
knew  their  parents  before  them.  Your  study  of 
sociology  begins  with  your  own  community,  but 
it  cannot  remain  limited  to  it;  for  the  character, 
mode  of  life,  taste,  intelligence  of  your  parish- 
ioner results  from  generations  of  influences,  and 
you  must  follow  up  these  streams  one  by  one  to 
discover  what  each  one  is  contributing.  And  so 
you  study  history,  the  history  of  the  men  and 
women  to  whom  you  are  devoting  your  lives. 

Without  doubt  you  have  facts  in  your  own 
community  as  interesting  and  illuminating  and 
varied  as  those  that  find  a  record  in  the  great 
books.  Most  certainly  you  have  material  in  your 
own  parish  more  rewarding  and  interesting  and 
varied  than  it  has  ever  entered  into  your  heart  to 
conceive  of.  A  minister  has  little  idea  how  far 
along  he  can  get  in  the  study  of  sociology  by  be- 
ginning in  this  simple  way. 

Something  like  this  is  what  I  mean  by  saying 
that  a  minister's  study  grows  out  of  his  practical 
work,  and  the  results  which  he  tries  to  reach  by 
it  are  practical.  So  the  minister's  real  training 
is  in  the  ministry,  and  in  large  part,  by  means  of 
24 


the  ministry.  This  is  inseparable  from  the  fact 
that  the  ministry  is  a  practical  calling.  And  often 
the  seminary  graduate  has  the  harder  work,  by 
very  reason  of  his  being  such,  to  adjust  himself 
to  the  situation.  It  is  worth  while  insisting  that 
this  phrase  mean,  just  what  it  says,  that  is.  adjust 
himself  to  the  situation ;  adjust  his  theories  to 
the  situation;  adjust  his  training  too;  this  is  the 
meaning  and  not  the  reverse,  as  if  the  situation 
must  be  adjusted  to  his  theories  and  training. 

And  now  it  is  full  time  that  I  insist  that  I  have 
no  quarrel  with  the  schools,  or  with  those  who 
are  in  the  schools,  or  have  been  in  them  long 
enough  to  complete  the  whole  round  of  them, 
with  all  their  studies.  Such  a  man  asks  if  then 
he  has  no  advantage  over  another  not  so  trained. 
He  certainly  has,  with  his  seven  or  more  years 
of  training.  Must  he  then  go  into  the  pastorate 
to  get  a  training?  Like  Paul's  Jew,  he  has  great 
advantage  every  way.  But  like  that  same  Jew, 
who  must  become  a  follower  of  Jesus  before  he 
can  enjoy  the  fruits  of  his  training,  the  college 
and  seminary  man,  as  he  leaves  the  school  to  be- 
come a  pastor,  is  bound  to  undergo  a  decided 
and  complete  transformation,  a  true  conversion. 
What  can  more  fittingly  express  the  change  than 
the  words  "a  new  birth"  ?  For  he  comes  suddenly 
into  a  new  world.  He  thought  he  understood  the 
Bible ;  a  few  months  in  the  pastorate  convince 
him,  if  he  is  not  unusually  stubborn,  that  he  did 
not  understand  it.  He  finds  it  has  a  power  that 
was  not  touched  upon  in  the  lectures  on  Biblical 
Introduction.  His  professors  bade  him  cultivate 
the  homiletic  habit,  and  he  thought  that  was 
something  specially  connected  with  writing  ser- 

25 


mons.  He  discovers  that  he  must  first  begin  the 
habit,  and  then  cultivate  it.  And  what  is  that 
habit  but  the  making  of  all  his  thought  and  obser- 
vation converge  upon  the  whole  great  purpose  of 
the  ministry,  which  is  the  salvation  of  men,  and 
not  the  writing  of  sermons?  It  is  the  learning 
to  live  and  move  and  have  being  in  the  kingdom 
of  God.  He  thought  he  had  a  theology,  and 
called  himself  after  one  or  another  of  the  great 
names  of  divinity.  He  discovers  before  long 
that  he  is  making  a  theology  for  himself.  We 
hear  men  say  that  their  belief  has  changed  very 
greatly,  that  they  do  not  believe  what  they  once 
were  taught ;  and  they  often  imagine  that  their 
minds  work  very  uniquely,  and  that  their  beliefs 
are  peculiar.  In  all  probability  the  change  is  no 
greater  than  ordinarily  occurs ;  it  is  probably  not 
at  all  radical,  but  the  natural  fruit  brought  forth 
in  the  new  world  of  his  experience.  All  men 
have  beliefs  peculiar  to  themselves,  and  many 
of  the  so  called  unique  views  are  common  to  all 
thoughtful  men.  The  mistake  is  in  supposing 
that  everybody  except  ourselves  is  going  on  be- 
lieving like  the  professors'  lectures,  or  the  great 
divines  of  the  church.  It  is  a  new  world  indeed 
into  which  the  student  is  ushered  when  he  takes 
his  first  pastorate. 

The  advantage  of  a  trained  minister  consists 
in  this,  that  when  he  comes  face  to  face  with  the 
practical  problems  of  his  pastorate,  novel  to  him 
as  inevitably  as  to  his  comrade,  he  may  search  in 
his  memory  or  in  his  note-book,  and  possibly  find 
some  word  which  may  be  of  service  to  him,  so 
that  he  will  not  need  to  go  and  find  some  other 
counsellor  to  give  him  this  particular  message. 
26 


This  is  possible,  but  it  does  not  always  fall  out 
in  exactly  this  wise.  Note-books  are  notoriously 
imperfect,  and  always  so  at  the  important  junct- 
ure. And  then,  even  with  seminary  advice  at 
the  elbow,  it  requires  no  little  skill  to  transform 
the  memory  and  the  note-book  knowledge  into 
real  pastoral  power ;  and  not  all  possess  this  skill. 
Knowledge  is  power  when  the  boy  is  being  urged 
to  get  knowledge.  When  the  man,  possessed  of 
great  knowledge,  is  wondering  why  his  life  is 
not  more  fruitful,  he  is  likely  to  revise  the 
proverb  materially. 

It  requires  much  grace  for  a  man  with  all  the 
pride  of  his  seminary  course  and  classroom 
knowledge,  to  admit  that  so  far  as  practical  ef- 
ficiency is  concerned,  he  begins  with  no  more, 
and  often  with  less,  power  than  his  unschooled 
neighbor.  But  it  is  the  truth,  and  if  he  at  length 
forges  ahead  in  the  race,  it  will  be  because  he  ac- 
cepts the  situation  and  learns  the  new  strange 
lessons  more  quickly  because  of  his  passed 
studies.  If  he  becomes  a  successful  pastor,  it  is 
not  his  seminary  training  which  accomplishes 
it.  I  have  seen  a  farmer  ploughing,  wearing  a 
frock  coat  that  he  used  to  wear  to  church,  per- 
haps the  one  that  he  bought  for  his  wedding  years 
ago.  And  many  a  man  is  to  be  seen  attempting 
to  till  his  part  of  the  Master's  field,  with  a  the- 
ology that  is  as  incongruous  as  the  farmer's 
frock  coat.  And  yet  the  seminary  is  not  to  blame, 
as  perhaps  we  shall  see  later.  The  man  is  no 
longer  a  student  at  school ;  he  is  a  man  at  work 
and  he  must  adjust  himself  to  the  practical. 

In  the  seminary  he  has  been  emphasizing  the 
theoretical  side ;  now  he  emphasizes  the  practical, 
27 


and  in  all  probability  the  pendulum  will  swing 
too  far  in  this  direction.  He  has  been  thrown 
overboard,  and  sinks  for  a  little  while;  but  he 
rises  again  and  can  keep  his  head  above  the  water 
in  which  he  is  destined  to  swim.  And  he  must 
keep  his  head  above  the  water.  He  must  look 
out  beyond  himself.  In  short,  he  must  study,  and 
books  and  reading  are  the  apparatus  that  the 
grown  man  is  to  use  in  the  study  that  he  proposes 
to  do  by  himself.  His  parish  needs  furnish  him 
the  topics,  rather  definitely,  though  in  bewilder- 
ing variety.  Personal  interest  is  assumed,  an 
interest  strong  enough  to  tide  him  over  the  days 
when  study  goes  hard;  over  the  blue  Mondays, 
over  indigestion  and  the  like.  By  means  of  books 
the  man  passes  beyond  this  personal  individual 
range  into  the  broader  field.  They  save  him 
from  provincialism,  from  the  deadly  half-bushel 
circuit.  They  multiply  his  experience.  Their 
function  is  not  to  do  away  with  the  need  of  think- 
ing, it  is  to  make  him  think  harder.  If  his  aim 
in  study  were  to  come  to  a  broad  generalization, 
to  philosophize,  then  books  might  mark  the  final 
stage  of  study.  His  aim,  however,  is  not  theo- 
rizing, but  practical  effects,  and  after  the  book 
stage,  as  before  it,  must  come  his  personal  in- 
dependent handling  of  the  subject  for  the  benefit 
of  his  work.  He  must  get  the  thought  of  the 
writer  into  his  head,  and  then  by  words,  and 
plans,  and  by  example  and  act,  get  the  value  of  it 
into  his  parish  work. 

One  of  the  prerequisites  for  the  intelligent  ap- 
plication of  our  knowledge  to  the  tasks  of  the 
day,  is  the  formation  of  opinions.  Other  things 
being  equal,  the  opinion  will  be  crude  in  inverse 


ratio  to  the  wicleness  and  the  ripeness  of  a  man's 
experience  and  observation.  The  crudity  does 
not  appear  to  a  man  until  later  modification  of 
the  opinion  reveals  it.  On  some  subjects  he  will 
be  unable  to  formulate  any  opinion.  Some  sub- 
jects seem  simple  because  one  has  not  studied 
enough  to  know  their  perplexities ;  others  seem 
perplexing-  at  first  and  one  does  not  even  venture 
to  formulate  an  opinion.  In  the  one  case  the 
first  opinion  may  prove  to  be  too  pronounced. 
In  the  other  case  the  timidity  ought  to  yield  at 
once  to  at  least  a  tentative  opinion. 

Very  clearly  a  minister  is  not  sufficient  in  his 
own  experience  even  for  the  smallest  problems 
that  come  to  him.  He  must  get  the  benefit  of  the 
views  of  others.  He  needs  help  and  so  must  read. 
What  does  he  read  for?  To  compare  opinions, 
to  widen  his  horizon,  to  avoid  mistakes  that  he 
is  liable  to  make  but  of  which  he  knows  nothing 
in  advance.  Read,  not  to  make  the  reading  take 
the  place  of  thinking,  but  to  make  you  think ;  and 
to  make  your  own  thinking  at  once  the  harder, 
because  the  more  profound,  and  the  easier  be- 
cause the  clearer  at  every  step ;  and  to  make  your 
thinking  more  profitable. 

For  any  man  all  books  may  be  divided  into  two 
classes,  those  that  agree  with  him,  and  those  that 
disagree  with  him.  And  this  is  just  the  way  we 
put  it ;  we  do  not  naturally  say.  "I  agree  with 
him,"  but  "He  agrees  with  me/'  "He  does  not 
agree  with  me."  Later  on  he  may  win  us  over  to 
his  way  of  thinking,  but  the  first  discovery  that  a 
reader  makes  is  that  the  new  thought  is  like  or 
unlike  his  own.  Shall  one  read  books  that  agree 
with  him  or  the  other  kind?  Read  both  kinds. 
29 


Read  those  that  agree  with  you,  but  not  to  fix 
you  in  your  opinion  stubbornly;  the  rather  to  see 
how  your  own  faiths  that  have  been  satisfactory 
to  you,  but  which  have  seemed  to  you  to  be  a 
monopoly  of  your  own,  and  to  others  to  share 
your  own  smallness,  reach  out  and  bear  fruit  of 
which  you  never  dreamed.  In  reading  such 
books  you  touch  shoulders  and  join  forces  with 
a  great  army  of  men  who  are  of  like  aspiration 
with  yourself,  men  who  by  some  accident  of 
equipment  are  more  in  the  public  eye,  or  better 
able  to  express  with  inspiration  to  others  the 
truth  you  and  they  hold  in  common. 

Read  books  of  men  with  whom  you  do  not 
agree.  Read  them,  but  not  necessarily  to  combat 
them.  It  is  not  of  vital  importance  that  all  men 
should  be  brought  to  our  way  of  thinking.  It  is 
important  and  very  important  that  my  thinking 
and  your  thinking  should  truthfully  represent 
the  best  impulses  and  the  dominant  purpose  of 
our  lives,  and  in  turn  that  with  our  growth  in 
moral  power  and  in  righteousness  there  should 
come  added  power  of  expression. 

Read  the  books  of  men  who  do  not  agree  with 
you,  and  do  not  be  scared  out  of  doing  so  by  fear 
of  adverse  comment  or  fear  that  you  will  be  won 
over  to  their  way  of  thinking.  Either  fear  is 
cowardly.  Do  it  in  order  to  discover  with  what 
your  own  view  has  to  measure  its  strength. 

There  is  much  said  in  these  days  about  the 
value  of  stereographs.  An  object  is  seen  better 
by  two  eyes  than  by  one.  You  look  a  bit  around 
the  corner,  you  see  more  of  it.  It  stands  out 
better  from  the  background.  So  with  you  and 
your  author.    Looking  from  different  angles  you 

30 


and  he  see  different  sides  of  the  object,  and  by 
reading  his  views  you  gain  for  yours  clearness  of 
definition  and  correctness. 

"Accept  his  views  ?"  The  form  of  the  question 
is  objectionable.  Accepting  views  belongs  to  the 
boy.  He  accepts  his  teacher's  views,  and  the 
statement  of  his  textbook,  but  in  most  cases  they 
do  not  become  his  own.  They  are  stored  in  the 
memory,  perhaps  can  be  rehearsed  on  call,  but 
they  do  not  become  a  part  of  the  boy's  own 
equipment.  For  the  minister  to  accept  another's 
views  in  that  sense  is  to  surrender  his  birthright, 
to  forget  his  prerogative  as  a  full  grown  man. 
It  may  be  that  he  and  you  will  come  to  hold  views 
that  are  in  the  main  identical,  but  his  will  be  his, 
and  yours  will  be  yours,  cast  in  the  mould  of  your 
own  mental  processes  and  bearing  the  marks  of 
being  your  own  legitimate  product.  It  is  yours 
without  fear  of  the  charge  of  plagiarism ;  yours 
because  your  own  experience  leads  you  thither. 

What  a  fair  world  this  would  be  if  only  infal- 
lible utterances  found  their  way  into  print!  Or 
at  least  how  different  it  would  be !  Unfortunately 
even  the  colorless  statements  of  fact  cannot  al- 
ways be  relied  upon  as  true.  It  is  entirely  reason- 
able, and  even  within  the  limits  of  proper  modesty 
for  a  plain  every  day  minister  to  challenge  the 
truth  of  a  writer's  statement.  Do  his  observa- 
tions correspond  with  yours  ?  Has  he  interpreted 
the  facts  correctly?  A  minister  should  be  so 
trained,  if  not  in  a  seminary  course,  at  least  by 
the  schooling  of  his  practical  life,  that  he  can 
estimate  the  value  of  another  man's  observations. 
Read  to  be  able  to  add  his  laboratory  to  yours, 
and  from  the  two  to  make  a  safer  generalization. 

31 


Do  you  ask  still  what  should  be  the  attitude 
of  your  mind  to  a  book  with  which  you  do  not 
agree?  If  the  book  were  wholly  vicious,  it  would 
be  proper  to  read  it,  if  at  all,  in  an  attitude  of 
uniform  hostility.  But  if  it  were  such  a  book  you 
would  not  read  it.  If  you  do  read  it,  you  raise 
it  thereby  to  a  somewhat  dignified  position.  It 
will  not  do  to  say  only  hostile  things  of  a  book 
which  nevertheless  you  are  reading.  There  are 
Americans  living  abroad,  who  seem  to  be  unable 
to  say  anything  good  of  the  land  or  the  city  of 
their  sojourn,  and  insult  its  citizens  in  public  and 
in  private  by  derogatory  remarks,  although  they 
continue  their  stay  there  year  after  year.  Why 
do  you  read  the  book  at  all?  Because  others  are 
reading  it?  Then  there  must  be  some  element 
in  it  which  makes  it  popular.  What  it  is  you 
should  discover.  It  cannot  be  wholly  bad.  The 
paper  or  tlie  type  may  be  good !  Or  it  may  have 
the  merit  of  brevity !  But  more  than  that ;  a  man 
does  not  say,  "Go  to  now,  I  will  write  a  book  that 
shall  be  utterly  mischievous,  filled  with  lies  and 
void  of  good,  an  evil  influence  from  cover  to 
cover."  The  result  may  be  well  nigh  that,  but  in 
the  writer's  purpose  there  was  something  else, 
and  for  this  reason  again,  there  is  some  respect 
due  even  a  poor  book. 

But  again,  cherished  hostility  makes  it  almost 
impossible  to  be  fair ;  it  blinds  the  eyes  as  surely 
as  does  love.  It  is  a  crime  against  yourself,  for 
it  dulls  the  intellect  and  prevents  the  full  exercise 
of  your  mental  powers.  The  only  way  is  to  put 
one's  self  for  the  time  being  into  at  least  so  much 
of  sympathy  with  the  writer  as  not  to  misjudge 
him.     Pick  out  the  good,  the  more  carefully  if 

32 


there  is  little  of  it,  and  throw  the  rest  away.  You 
read  for  strength  and  breadth,  and  many  a  book 
that  is  not  wholly  right  will  give  you  that. 

It  is  a  simple  belief  of  a  child  that  everybody 
whom  he  admires  is  thoroughly  admirable.  It  is 
a  childish  fancy  that  a  book  must  be  valuable,  for 
otherwise  it  would  not  be  in  existence.  By  and 
by  the  child  discovers  a  slight  flaw  in  the  char- 
acter of  his  acquaintance,  as  he  himself  grows  to 
surpass  him  in  education,  in  politeness,  in  ambi- 
tion. So  it  is  in  the  case  of  books.  A  man  grows 
sleepy  over  a  book;  he  at  first  chides  himself  as 
at  fault,  but  discovers  by  and  by  that  it  is  the 
book  that  is  dull.  He  feels  a  little  ill  at  ease  and 
self  conscious  in  reading  a  novel  and  he  discovers 
that  its  language  is  vulgar ;  its  moral  effect  is 
not  correct  and  he  despises  it.  Our  earlier  atti- 
tude of  reverence  for  everything  that  is  a  book 
gives  place  to  a  critical  attitude  of  mind.  It  is  a 
rude  awakening  but  it  is  a  healthy  process,  and 
the  result  is  salutary.  In  the  case  of  religious 
books  the  awakening  comes  tardily  if  at  all ;  for 
we  shun  any  appearance  of  adverse  criticism  of 
what  is  done  in  even  the  outermost  courts  of  the 
temple.  We  think  every  avowedly  religious  book 
is  a  good  book,  every  Sunday  school  book  is  a 
good  book,  and  every  Sunday  school  hymnal! 
But  we  learn  better  after  a  time  and  it  does  us 
good  to  learn  better  though  it  costs  a  sigh. 

Still  this  must  not  sour  us  toward  literature, 
real  or  alleged,  of  which  we  do  not  wholly  ap- 
prove. People  write  and  influence,  and  people 
read  and  are  influenced,  and  we  can  get  some- 
thing profitable  out  of  anything  that  comes  from 
the  heart  of  a  brother  man. 

33 


And  remember  that  the  minister  has  one  grand 
safeguard  against  the  vagaries  and  errors  of  an- 
other as  he  has  against  infidehty ;  it  is  his  prac- 
tical work.  He  has  no  time  to  waste  on  nonsense. 
There  are  great  interests  in  his  keeping.  He  can- 
not afford  to  go  off  on  a  tangent.  He  must  hold 
himself  together.  The  cranky  book  does  not  af- 
fect him  as  it  would  if  he  had  not  this  balance- 
wheel  of  serious  earnest  work. 

My  main  purpose  is  accomplished  if  I  have 
brought  it  home  to  the  minister  that  his  training 
does  not  entirely  or  chiefly  antedate  his  entry 
into  the  ministry  but  is  coincident  with  it;  that 
it  is  not  so  much  training  for  the  ministry  as 
training  in  and  by  the  ministry ;  that  this  process 
is  not  necessarily  antagonized  by  his  busy  pas- 
torate; but  is  properly  based  upon  it  and  fur- 
thered by  it ;  that  books  and  reading  furnish  him 
the  principal  aid  to  be  had  from  outside ;  but  that 
it  is  after  all  for  himself  to  secure  by  his  own  ef- 
forts, and  not  as  a  donation  from  another. 

Whatever  assistance  he  may  have,  and  he  ought 
to  have  much,  from  school  and  library  and  asso- 
ciates in  the  ministry,  he  must  stand  on  his  own 
feet  and  say  resolutely,  "I  will  steadily  increase 
my  mental  powers  and  efficiency."  Whatever 
drawbacks  he  may  have,  and  discouragements 
and  disappointments,  there  is  nothing  that  can 
prevent  a  man  from  a  continuous  growth  in  abil- 
ity, until  old  age  or  infirmity  warns  him  that  his 
work  is  well  nigh  done. 

It  is  really  a  moral  question  for  him,  a  question 
of  duty  to  man  and  God.  His  work,  which  really 
engrosses  so  much  of  his  time,  which  involves  so 
much  drudgery,  which  brings  him  so  few  of  this 

34 


world's  treasures,  is  after  all  the  most  pleasant 
that  a  loving  heavenly  father  can  bestow.  No 
other  has  in  it  so  much  inspiration  and  joy.  This 
is  a  truism,  repeated  often  by  every  true  pastor. 
But  a  little  below  the  obvious  thought  lies  an- 
other. This  occupation  of  the  Christian  minister 
is  of  such  character  as  to  stimulate  greatly  his 
mental  growth.  No  man  can  deal  with  human 
nature  as  a  minister  does  and  must,  without  being 
influenced  for  good  thereby.  He  is  in  a  position 
to  gain  great  mental  strength  by  his  work.  We 
are  told  that  this  is  an  age  of  psychology.  Why 
use  so  long  a  word?  This  is  the  age  of  men. 
Men  are  the  objects  of  study  in  these  years.  Men 
are  at  the  front,  men  of  character  and  power. 
And  men  are  and  must  be  studied  diligently  in 
order  to  place  them  at  their  best  for  grand 
achievement.  No  one  on  earth  has  better  oppor- 
tunity to  study  men  at  first  hand  than  the  Chris- 
tian minister.  The  great  problems  of  the  day  are 
problems  of  man,  of  his  mental  and  moral  nature. 
Whether  these  problems  are  classified  as  inter- 
national, or  national,  or  social,  or  industrial,  or 
religious  (if  indeed  there  be  any  such  not  em- 
braced among  the  others  mentioned),  the  minis- 
ter of  Jesus  Christ  can  say,  humbly  as  he  sees 
himself,  proudly  as  he  views  his  office,  Christ 
holds  the  solution  of  the  problem  in  his  gospel 
of  salvation  to  the  uttermost,  and  I  am  his  min- 
ister. 

He  comes  face  to  face  with  the  soul  in  its 
supreme  moments,  at  times  when  the  dead  level 
of  its  ordinary  movements  is  interrupted  by  the 
sudden  or  the  extreme,  and  if  he  would  be  a 
healer  and  not  a  bungler,  he  must  know  man  in 

35 


all  his  moods.  This  is  mentally  taxing.  No  won- 
der that  Monday  finds  a  man  weary,  and  Satur- 
day often  fails  to  rest  him.  No  wonder  that  now 
and  then  a  man  breaks  down ;  that  one  and  an- 
other is  staggered  by  the  seriousness  of  the  tasks. 

And  yet  just  here  lies  his  education.  Those 
very  persons  whose  spiritual  experiences  are  so 
much  in  evidence,  whose  cry  for  help,  or  whose 
gratitude  for  help,  is  constantly  in  our  ears,  con- 
stitute our  text  book.  It  is  in  the  handling  of 
these  souls  that  we  gain  our  wisdom  and  strength. 
We  may  read  books,  we  way  go  to  school,  but 
only  as  a  means  of  widening  our  experience,  and 
not  as  a  substitute  for  it.  x\nd  probably  a  man 
who  will  not  find  inspiration  to  growth  from  these 
rich  fields  of  labor  and  observation,  will  not  be 
greatly  strengthened  in  other  ways.  We  owe  it 
to  ourselves,  and  to  our  master  to  make  use  of 
the  opportunities  that  lie  about  us. 

And  our  obligation  is  deeper  than  that,  and 
more  fundamental.  We  are  ministers,  but  first 
we  are  Christians.  We  are  actors,  but  first  we 
are  acted  upon.  We  are  producers,  but  first  pro- 
ducts. We  bring  others  under  the  spell  of  divine 
truth ;  we  have  ourselves  first  come  under  its  in- 
fluence. What  has  been  and  what  is  its  effect 
upon  us?  We  approach  a  poor  wretch,  vile, 
filthy,  wrecked,  and  tell  him  we  believe  Jesus 
Christ  can  redeem  his  life.  How  about  our- 
selves ?  What  is  the  basis  of  our  great  confidence 
in  the  power  of  Christ  over  human  life?  Surely 
not  some  single  momentary  experience  of  by- 
gone years.  We  dare  not  speak  confidently  un- 
less the  process  of  redemption  is  continuous  in  us, 
Christ  has  not  done  with  us,  we  are  not  yet  splen- 

36 


did  examples  of  his  redeeming  work  finished. 
Rather  we  are  yet  in  the  making.  This  work  of 
grace  within  us  concerns  the  Christian  virtues, 
but  of  these  we  do  not  speak.  It  concerns  just 
as  truly  our  mental  growth  and  strengthening. 
To  be  sure,  we  cannot  exactly  be  born  again  men- 
tally, but  there  is  so  much  of  the  moral  in  mental 
development,  and  so  much  of  the  mental  in  moral 
development,  that  the  one  as  well  as  the  other  is 
within  the  proper  sphere  of  Christ's  influence. 
Think  of  the  marvels  that  Christianity  accom- 
pHshes  on  missionary  fields,  of  the  raising  of  the 
Hindoo  outcaste  to  the  intellectual  level  of  the 
Brahman  within  a  generation  or  two,  of  mental 
ability  exhibited  by  children  of  slaves  in  the 
South.  If  this  is  true,  and  of  course  it  is,  where 
are  the  triumphs  of  the  cross  in  our  own  persons? 
It  is  a  sin  to  be  handling  so  constantly  the 
precious  truths  of  the  Christian  religion,  to  preach 
salvation  to  every  one  else,  and  at  the  same  time 
to  content  ourselves  with  mediocre  mental  ability, 
and  unambitious  acquisition. 

Is  the  pulpit  losing  its  intellectual  supremacy? 
We  hear  that  it  is.  If  by  intellectual  supremacy 
is  meant  the  monopoly  of  stores  of  information 
upon  various  subjects,  it  is  doubtless  as  true  as  it 
was  inevitable,  that  it  should  lose  it.  But  we 
mean  rather  the  power  that  goes  with  knowledge. 
Granted  that  other  men  are  exhibiting  more  and 
more  of  this  power  as  the  generations  pass ; 
esteem  it  rather  a  mark  of  the  intellectual 
supremacy  of  the  ministry  which  has  led  the 
world  in  this  development,  than  a  token  of  de- 
generacy of  today.  And  yet  the  thoughtful  man 
will  consider  very  seriously  whether  there  is  not 

37 


a  danger  that  the  grand  heritage  of  the  past  will 
not  be  passed  on  undiminished  to  another  genera- 
tion. There  is  no  need  that  the  pulpit  lose  its 
supremacy.  There  is  every  reason  why  it  should 
not.  It  is  in  the  keeping,  not  of  a  few  conspic- 
uous men,  but  of  the  many  inconspicuous  men  in 
the  service.  It  rests  with  each  man  to  show  his 
superiority.  He  should  prove  in  his  own  life 
that  he  lives  longer  and  is  healthier  because  he  is 
a  minister ;  that  his  intellect  is  keener  every  day ; 
that  his  mental  power  is  better  preserved  as  he 
grows  old ;  that  he  has  his  learning  more  fully 
under  his  control ;  that  his  judgments  of  men  and 
methods  are  more  correct;  that  his  sympathies 
are  broader  and  more  genuine ;  that  his  optimism 
is  more  unclouded ;  that  his  faith  is  supreme. 
The  man  who  exhibits  such  fruits  of  his  ministry 
has  a  liberal  education. 


38 


OAYLORD    BROS. 

MAKERS 

SYRACUSE.  •  HY. 


